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Saturday, June 12, 2010

Joey and Chris

Tim and I received a call from Covenant Kids, our fostering/adoption agency, on June 1; they wanted to know if we wanted two boys.... the parental rights had been terminated but the period of appeal was not concluded yet.

Today, 11 days later, I shudder to think how close we came to saying no. These two children are such blessings in our lives. They are both so sweet with smiles that make me smile and hugs that melt me all the way down to my toes.

Joey turned four on June 4th, but we had been told his birthday was the 6th, so that's when we celebrated it. We felt terrible when we realized. Hopefully we'll be able to keep these boys and someday laugh over the mistake on another happily celebrated birthday.

Chris is three, and he only turned three on May 24th, so these boys are as close as they can be! Chris looks just like Tim with his spiky-unruly hair.

We're working on temper tantrums, learning what 'obey' means, and the rules of the house, like waiting at the table until Mommy wipes hands. They are doing great and such a joy to be around. They wake up very early in the morning, so Tim and I are adjusting to that. Sometimes we take turns sleeping in or napping.

At first, we had kicking and screaming at bedtime and naptime, but after the first day, Joey stopped that and now always lays down really peacefully to sleep. Christopher is still learning how to go to bed. He doesn't scream anymore, and he doesn't kick the wall anymore, and he has stopped biting/hitting/spitting/kicking Tim, for the most part. He still has his moments.

The boys have very active imaginations. They play Puppy, where Joey leads Chris around by his collar, and Chris crawls and looks for food to eat. When they play Puppy outside, they fill the old dog bowls with rocks and pretend to eat them. One day, I saw them licking the rocks, but Tim told me to leave them alone, that they wouldn't get sick, and sure enough, they're still alive. They play Horsey with Daddy, and they always ask to sit on our laps.

I know they don't understand the concept of what a real Mommy and Daddy are yet. In all the upheaval of their short lives, they've probably called every authority figure Mommy or Daddy. We want to teach them this, and give them such wonderful stability so that they blossom into incredible young men who want to serve the Lord.